Probation officers hit with a car

Two state probation officers were slightly injured Tuesday when a man hit them with a car while trying to get away.

Tavares Ramone Johnson drove his girlfriend to the Department of Correction's Day Reporting Center on Epps Bridge Road, where the officers told Johnson they wanted to speak with him, authorities said.

Authorities would not say why the officers wanted to talk to Johnson, who has criminal convictions but was not currently on probation.

Johnson refused to speak with the officers and as he tried to drive away he pinned one of the officers between his car and another vehicle, according to Gwendolyn Hogan, a Department of Corrections spokeswoman.

The other officer was clipped by Johnson's Cadillac, but neither was seriously injured, she said.

Johnson didn't obey orders to stop even after the officers drew their guns, Hogan said.

Johnson sped away on Hawthorne Avenue and raced down Oglethorpe Avenue, where a detective in an unmarked car saw him approaching the intersection of Prince Avenue, Athens-Clarke police said.

A uniformed officer joined the chase and activated his patrol car's lights and siren. Johnson pulled into a parking space at the corner of Prince and Georgia avenues, police said, and the officer used a public address system to order him to get out of the car and down on his knees.

Johnson, 32, of 320 North Bluff Road, was charged with two counts each of aggravated assault on an officer and felony obstruction, and one count of fleeing to elude arrest.

An Athens-Clarke County Magistrate Court judge set bail at $15,000, but Johnson had not posted bond as of Wednesday afternoon and he remained at the Clarke County Jail.